Lingerfelt kicks off year with joint venture in Prince George, leadership adjustments

TriPoint Distribution Center will add about 348,000 square feet of spec warehouse space beside the I-295/U.S. 460 interchange near Prince George. (Rendering courtesy CBRE)

Continuing its push into more industrial development, real estate investment firm Lingerfelt is starting 2025 with a joint venture on a distribution center near Prince George while also restructuring its leadership with a series of promotions.

Lingerfelt is partnering with SCOA Real Estate Partners (SREP), a subsidiary of global trading company Sumitomo Corp., to develop about 348,000 square feet of spec warehouse space at 5160 Chudoba Parkway.

Called TriPoint Distribution Center, the facility is taking shape beside the I-295/U.S. 460 interchange between Prince George and Petersburg, near 295’s convergence with I-95.

The project broke ground in September and is targeted for completion this August.

An entity tied to Lingerfelt purchased the 40-acre site last June for $3.15 million, Prince George property records show. The project cost is estimated at about $32 million.

The JV with SREP is the companies’ first collaboration but the latest for Lingerfelt, which often enlists equity partners on its projects.

Brian Witthoefft, Lingerfelt’s recently promoted president, said SREP approached the company based on its activity in and around Central Virginia.

Brian Witthoefft

“We liked the chemistry and agreed to look for a project that made sense to work on together,” Witthoeftt said. “When the Tripoint opportunity was identified, we put it in front of them and it was a good fit on a number of levels.”

Witthoefft said such partnerships allow the company to do more for its investors by bringing in more equity and debt.

“It allows us to stretch our dollars and do more with our dollars,” Witthoefft said. “This is the first project we’ve done with this partner, but many of our projects do include a joint venture equity partner. We’ve enjoyed a number of partners and great relationships and are excited to grow the bench of joint venture partners.”

The distribution center is SREP’s first industrial project in Virginia, according to its website. Its industrial portfolio includes projects in Arizona, Illinois, Florida and Texas. It’s also developed master-planned residential communities in Houston and Atlanta, where the 2-year-old company is based. Its nearest apartment developments are in Arlington, D.C. and Raleigh, North Carolina.

TriPoint will have potential to house 1,400 full-time jobs, the companies said in a release. Witthoefft said they’re in talks with potential users but have not signed deals for the spec space. Arco Design/Build is the general contractor on the project, and leasing is being handled by CBRE’s Jason Hetherington, Brad Lowry and Douglas Tice.

TriPoint is the latest industrial project for Lingerfelt since the Henrico-based company shifted its focus in recent years away from office and more toward industrial investment and development.

Recent projects include five industrial buildings it’s developing in eastern Henrico, and in 2023, Lingerfelt picked up two distribution centers in the region in a $105 million deal with global investment firm Partners Group. That followed Lingerfelt’s $119 million sale the previous year of an 11-building office portfolio in Innsbrook.

As it’s shifted its strategy, Lingerfelt also has been making adjustments to its leadership team, setting up a succession plan that’s expected to play out over the next several years.

The company recently announced a series of promotions stemming from Chairman Alan (“Al”) Lingerfelt stepping down as CEO, a role now assumed by son Ryan Lingerfelt. Al will remain active as chairman and a company partner and stay involved in decision-making and transaction reviews and approvals, while cutting back his day-to-day in the office, Ryan said.

Ryan Lingerfelt

“This is a culmination of a gradual leadership transition that’s been being employed for the last five-plus years,” Ryan said. “Al is 70 now, and he slowly let off the reins and gave us more incremental responsibility as a team over the last seven, eight years. It’s been kind of ongoing, as a lot of companies do: you start training the next generation well in advance of there being any sort of event.

“He will still be a voting member of the investment committee; he’s still very much an active chairman and comes to meetings,” Ryan said. “His day-to-day time in the office will be further reduced. He’ll be a little bit more removed, but still very much actively involved.”

The move hands over more responsibilities to Ryan and to Witthoefft, who was named president after nearly 14 years as a managing director. John Mason, formerly a senior vice president, was promoted to managing director for development, and Rob Valentine, formerly VP for investments, was named managing director for investments.

Ryan, who was previously president and also serves as chief investment officer, launched this latest iteration of the Lingerfelt family business in 2002. Al joined the company five years later as chairman and CEO after previously selling his own business, Lingerfelt Development Corp., to Liberty Public Trust in 1995.

Since 2020, Lingerfelt has built out or is in the process of developing more than 3 million square feet of industrial space in and around Richmond, which Witthoefft said has made the company the most active industrial developer in the region. Of those developments, he said 98% of them are currently leased.

In addition to TriPoint, the company is heading into 2025 with seven projects in Prince George and Henrico that Ryan said it’s aiming to start this year. Witthoefft said those projects amount to 2 million square feet of additional speculative industrial space in the region.

In other industrial real estate news, Indiana-based Becknell Industrial recently sold the three-building Airport Logistics Center in eastern Henrico to Los Angeles-based Ares Management Corp. for nearly $67 million.